Red Sox living with Napoli's strikeouts

BOSTON -- The strikeout numbers are staggering. With 39 games still left to play, Mike Napoli has already accumulated the fourth-most strikeouts in a season in Red Sox history.

By Tim Britton

BOSTON -- The strikeout numbers are staggering. With 39 games still left to play, Mike Napoli has already accumulated the fourth-most strikeouts in a season in Red Sox history.

But Boston is OK with that. The Sox knew that was part of the package they were signing in the offseason.

"We're living with it. Strikeouts have been part of his career and part of his track record, but it's the tradeoff with his power," manager John Farrell said. "We're willing to accept that. Had that not been the case, he might not be here. We know the type of player he is. We're going to ride with him."

Napoli's strikeout rate has ticked up in 2013 compared to other years. He struck out 30 percent of the time in 2012, and now it's 34 percent. (His 19.7 percent rate in 2011 marked a significant outlier in his career track record.)

However, the punchouts have been less palatable this season because of drops in both Napoli's walk rate and power. After back-to-back years in which he walked 13.4 percent of the time, Napoli's down to 10.8 percent this season. Thus, despite a better average this season than last, his on-base percentage is worse.

More surprising has been the decrease in power. Napoli appeared to be an ideal fit for Fenway Park, but that hasn't transpired in practice. Coming into the season with Ruthian numbers (in an extremely small sample) at Fenway, Napoli has posted a higher slugging percentage on the road this season. Even though he's seeing the most regular playing time of his career -- and not spending the large majority of it behind home plate -- Napoli is on pace for 19 home runs. He's hit at least 20 in each of the last five seasons.

"He's a streaky type of hitter," Farrell said. "We've got to ride that. When he gets into that hot streak, he can carry us. He's shown it. But it's a guy we've got to make sure we get him his rest like other guys and we're trying to do that with the schedule we've gone through."

Napoli could see a lot of that rest next week, when the Sox travel to San Francisco and Los Angeles for a pair of interleague series. Without the benefit of the designated hitter, it's a smart bet that David Ortiz will get the majority of starts at first base with Napoli relegated to the bench.

"I've got an idea, but I haven't addressed it with David yet," Farrell said of the playing time on the upcoming trip. "That conversation is coming."

Boston plays eight of its final 36 games on the road in NL parks -- more than the rest of the AL East combined.

Twitter: @TimBritton

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